We Live Again: 9 Remnants
by Cosmina Inspira
Summary: Thailog and his allies are not the clan's only enemies. Vlad Tepes and his 'family' came to New York to investigate the supposed demise of Madoc Morfryn, and now he recruits two former followers of the Unseelie Court and set out on a raid that threatens the lives of two young people close to Brooklyn, who begins to question his role as second in command.
1. Chapter 1

We Live Again

Episode 9: Remnants

By Cosmic Inspiration

Disclaimer: The Gargoyles animated series, including the Goliath Chronicles, is the property of the Walt Disney Company and Buena Vista Animation, originally created and co-produced by Greg Weisman. The characters of Vlad, Elizabeth, Imre, Mikaela, Rita, Rael, Vince, 'Blue,' Sata, Graeme, Ariana, Mei Hsing, Chiang Yun, George Harrison, Balthazar and Darius are from TGS, and are allowed for fan fiction stories by the TGS staff with consent of creator acknowledgement. The mentions of the Black Court and the character Mavra are from the Dresden Files book series by Jim Butcher. All original characters are the creation of the author Cosmic Inspiration. No copyright infringement is intended and not authorized by the copyholders. All stories written by this author are purely for fun and entertainment of this beloved animated series, and no profit is made by the author.

Author's note: To begin clearing a bit of confusion, the previous episodes begin at the end of November to mid to late December 1999 in episodes 1-4, and pick up in early to mid January 2000 in episode 5-7. This story takes place in early to mid February 2000.

Previously on Gargoyles. . .

"Brooklyn, my friend, leadership is a heavy burden." Goliath to Brooklyn

(Cannon)_Upgrade_.

"Madoc is gone, and so are most of the Unseelies, but not everything came to an end with them. What if he's got other legacies, and they're still out there?" Angela.

"It seems clear that the evil he has worked has out lived him. We must be more vigilant about such survivals from now on." Goliath.

"We have lost our first battle to those creatures, but the war is only beginning." Vlad.

(TGS)_Thicker Than Blood_.

"What do you intend to do with me now, Mr. Xanatos? Lock me away forever in one of your life-support chambers, just like those unfortunates that you captured?" Dr. Emily Gray.

"Those 'unfortunates' you mention are very dangerous people. We are holding the victims of Mr. Maddox prisoner for the safety of this city. There's no telling what damage they could do if they were allowed to roam freely about Manhattan." Xanatos.

(TGS)_Unions_.

"Did Goliath say anything about stepping down?" Xanatos.

"I don't think so. Goliath will always be my leader, no matter what." Brooklyn.

(TGS)_Out of Joint. Pt. 2_

Though the neighborhood had not fully succumb to the average status of what is considered urban decay, it had seen better days. The occasional mugging or domestic disturbance were not unheard of, and though good people still lived in this once pleasant middle class neighborhood of townhouses and iron fences, many who could afford it had moved away.

This night, two figures walked side by side down the street level paved sidewalk, occasionally passing by scruffy teenagers hanging out on front steps and smoking. Though the couple easily fit in with the atmosphere of the neighborhood, they were strangers to a place they had not set foot in for some time.

"I thought you never wanted to come back here," the man said.

"I didn't," his girlfriend said, "But something was pulling me back. Maybe part of me was feeling guilty about abandoning our friends."

"That's not like you," her boyfriend commented.

"I know," the young woman complained, "Like I of all people should care."

"You may act like a tough Goth chick, but I know there's more to you than that," he said as he placed an arm around her, and she gave him a smile that revealed fangs more realistic than any found in a Halloween prop store.

"Well, whatever it is that's pulling us back to New York, let's get it over with and maybe head for Vegas, 'cause I've had enough of this screwed up town to last me a lifetime." He's girlfriend let out a heavy rasping sigh as she vented her frustration.

"Me too, sweetheart. Ever since our 'great lord' got himself killed, life just hasn't been much fun. Maybe our luck will turn around."

They smiled at each other before looking up to see a small light flutter slightly above them. It would have easily been mistaken for a simple firefly, save it was several times larger, had a humanoid shape, and glowed an ethereal blue.

On a side road not far from where the strange couple walked by, a pair of even stranger eyes watched them carefully. The female figure's face then smiled evilly to reveal a pair of needle sharp fangs.

A moment later, she became a literal silent shadow and flew away through the Manhattan skyline to report on what she had seen.

Her sire will be pleased with what she had found, what he may have been looking for.


	2. Chapter 2

****Castle Wyvern

"Get it, get it, get it!" cried Ariana excitedly as her brother and Uncle Lex battled it out on their newest video game, but exactly whom she was rooting for neither knew nor cared so long as one or the other came out the victor.

Nearby their father, Brooklyn, watched with amusement as he and Sata played a popular modern Japanese board game, which unsurprisingly, Sata won most of the time.

Though he always enjoyed seeing members of his clan enjoy themselves during difficult times, his small smile hid a worried and burdened soul.

His rookery brother, Broadway, had spent the last three nights recovering from injuries he had received in the last battle in a growing gang war, in the castle infirmary. Though most of his injuries were healed with the miraculous regenerative properties of natural stone sleep and the excellent healing talents of the clan's new exchange member, Kwan Yin of the Chinese Xanadu Clan, Broadway had not yet come out of a depression that resulted from an occurrence he was refusing to speak about.

Angela had refused to leave his side the whole time, even with her own injury fully healed, yet she had very little success in comforting her lifemate.

Though Brooklyn's other rookery brother, Lexington, enjoyed himself with his younger rookery brother and sister at the moment, the former Timedancer was well aware that the smaller gargoyle still struggled with his own problems.

Though Lex had steadily learned to accept his irremovable cybernetic implants as both a blessing and a curse, he had no doubt learned to make them his own. Still, Brooklyn knew all too well that Lex felt isolated because of this and made him, if not counting the clan's eldest member Hudson, the clan's last unmated male.

Brooklyn had thought about this off and on for the past couple of years since Lex threatened to become almost estranged with him, but Brooklyn would not mind too much if Lex took his daughter, Ariana, as a mate when she is old enough.

But somehow it also seemed too awkward and weird, and Lex and Ariana would never see each other as other than a fun uncle and big brother role model and his brother's daughter and fun younger rookery sister.

But it could still be a possibility.

Of course, there was now a new unmated female in the clan closer to Lex's age, and a very attractive one at that. If Lex and Kwan Yin got to talking they could find out if they had plenty in common.

But on the other hand, what concerned Brooklyn about this was the possibility of how the Xanadu Clan leader, Mei Hsing, could politicize it and turn it to her advantage, because her second, Chiang Yun, also had the features of horns and a beak. Though such traits were common enough to the gargoyle race, Brooklyn could practically see the wheels turning in Mei Hsing's head when they first met, despite a cold emotionless outer countenance, and she had already proven to be intelligent and capable enough of using such controversy in her favor.

Even if Brooklyn was well aware of what would happen to Lex in the distant future, the causes of which he did not know nor wanted to know, all that mattered now was that he wanted Lex to be happy with what he had now.

Even if Brooklyn had promised to stop trying to be a matchmaker for Lex, it did not stop the armored gargoyle from teasing the olive webbed winged gargoyle, especially how a certain part of his body was lucky to not be cybernetic.

Aside from the well being of his brothers, Brooklyn also worried for Goliath and Elisa. Though Goliath has always been a pillar of strength as leader of the clan, Brooklyn could tell he was worried, and as second in command he shared those worries to a strong point.

The news of Goliath and Elisa's first child together was indeed good tidings, something even _he_ did not see coming, yet there were great concerns about Elisa's health and how she will be effected by this pregnancy. Also what weighed heavily on Goliath's mind was setting a good impression of his clan with their other guest, the Xanadu Clan elder, Li Shen.

Li Shen had so far demonstrated a more open mind and tolerance than his clan's leaders, but also still showed a strong skepticism about an open alliance with humanity, and hence had spent much time speaking with Goliath, Hudson, and Xanatos.

All Brooklyn knew was he hoped it was all a step in the right direction.

But despite all of the good, the clan still struggled with much conflict.

Aside from a gang war between crime lords and the syndicates that seemed to be spreading across the city, the clan had not had any direct confrontation with Thailog since his takeover of Nightstone Unlimited from Demona several months ago. The only battles having been by proxy with Coldsteel, Goliath's fight with the dark sorcerer Darius, and the new enigmatic gargoyle Typhon.

It was suspected that Thailog also had Sevarius and the Ultra Pack in his employ, which just put the clan further on edge.

Aside from Othello's claimed sighting of Demona over several weeks ago, there had been no sign of the long time rogue gargoyle. This just made Brooklyn worry more since he now offered friendship to a gargoyle whom he once only had a strong grudge against after she had used him for her own vengeful vendetta.

Aside from all of this, he was sure there was something else he should be concerned with, but he just could not put his talon on it.

"Brooklyn," a voice said sharply.

"Hm?" he jumped at the mention of his name that broke his musings to look at Sata, who evidently had called out his name several times already.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Babe, did you say something?"

"I said it's your turn, my absent minded Love, but clearly you don't notice that. What troubles you?"

"Nothing."

Sata just gave him a sharp knowing look.

Giving a deep reserved sigh he said, "A lot. Broadway's better now but he's not out of the woods yet, he's not acting like himself anymore. And then there's all the usual crap with the street crime, Thailog and his goons. And I'm worried for Goliath and Elisa and their new baby. I share some of Elisa's concerns about how it will be viewed by other clans and the rest of humanity, and I'm sure it'll be difficult on both sides. But I can't help feeling like I'm forgetting about something, or like this is the calm before the next storm."

Sata moved her seat next to Brooklyn and gently stroked his beak in comfort. Though no words were truly needed between the lifemates, Sata quietly said to him,

"Whatever conflict will unfold next we will face together, and the clan will need your strength. And you know you will always have mine. For now, My Love, don't let these troublesome thoughts burden you and let's finish our game."

"Why bother," Brooklyn groaned, "You win all the time."

"That's because I cheat," she said teasingly.

Brooklyn gave his cool green lifemate a dirty look, but she just gave him a wily smile.

He just chuckled and embraced his lifemate, at the same time there was cheering by Ariana for Lex winning the videogame while Graeme just moped.


	3. Chapter 3

****Mausoleum, Undisclosed location.

"And you're certain of what you saw?" her sire asked.

"Totally, Father," the young dark haired girl said, "They were like us and not like us, but I sensed magic on them and it was really weird. No doubt they're probably more like the bald loser over there."

The young woman, Mikaela, pointed to a tall bald man standing nearby. He had the feel of a former mob enforcer, save for his strangely pointed ears. He just looked at Mikaela hard and snared at her, but she just gave a smug smile.

"Vince," his master snapped, "From the description my daughter has given, do you know these strays?"

Vince, a former Dracon bouncer turned Quarryman turned Unseelie Halfling, looked at his latest master, the infamous Vladimir Tepes, aka Vlad the Third, Vlad the Impaler, or Vlad Dracula.

Despite whatever pop culture had portrayed the famous movie vampire to be, the real McCoy had proven to be far more dangerous and Vince learned early on never to question or defy his master.

Ever cautious to never meet his master's gaze dead on, Vince answered,

"From what she has said it sounds like Rita and her boyfriend Rael. I didn't know them personally, but we attended all the same stuff that let us fight those monster freaks, first the Quarrymen and then the program by Mr. Maddox that turned us into Halflings."

A small smile curved at the edges of his pale dry lips as he lightly touched his chin as though a clever thought made its way into his mind.

"What is your intention to do with them, my husband?" inquired Vlad's wife, Elizabeth, a woman who was equally pale but with a beauty of 17th century Eastern European nobility and a sinister mystique also equal to Vlad's.

"What I have always planned these last several long months, my love," Vlad said with an icy smile, "Whether or not they know of the fate of the Banished Lord and his followers, they shall be the first of new recruits. Once we have enough converted and thoroughly trained in our ways, we shall end our enemies, the gargoyles of this pathetic mortal realm. But most importantly, my beloved, though it may take a few centuries more, the Black Court shall live again."

The vampiric couple held hands in a dark loving way as they smiled at each other with deadly fangs.

He then looked at Vince and firmly instructed him, "Since you know these vagabonds best, take my daughter and bring them before me. If they refuse at first, I'm sure you can find a way to persuade them."

Vince gave a reluctant bow as he said, "Yes, Master."

He and Mikaela then stepped outside and disappeared into the night.

Another figure, who had remained quiet the entire time, just watched Vince and his sister leave with a look of resentment.

****Castle Wyvern

A widely amused chortling of laughter reverberated from the rerun of a classic TV show, which still put smiles on the faces of audiences to this day.

Even gargoyles, with whom this classic sitcom was new, found whimsical laughter with its lighthearted jokes and simplistic storylines.

However, tonight it did not entertain the tickle bone of one viewer, as Broadway just stared at the TV with a depressed brood up his simian like features. Even as Angela gave a small musical laugh at another funny scene, her heart was not wholly filled with mirth at seeing her lifemate continually frown.

This had come to the attention of the rest of the clan and added to more growing concerns, especially for Brooklyn as both second and, more importantly, as a caring brother. It was Broadway's first night out of the infirmary after recovering from near fatal wounds, and it was thought he would be eager to return to nightly patrols, yet instead he had shown the exact opposite.

While Angela remained by her lifemate's side, the clan's new exchange healer, Kwan Yin, or just Yin as she liked to be called, took it upon herself to find a way of healing Broadway of his emotional scars by studying contemporary psychology books, though this proved to be a bit tasking as she needed to learn to read and translate from English and Latin to her native Mandarin.

In the meantime, Brooklyn's own concerns were a bit more frustrating because he knew everyone was still needed for nightly patrols, and if Broadway did not overcome his personal issues soon it will begin to effect clan functions.

Having watched the show with him and Angela, when a commercial interruption came on he said to Broadway,

"Hey, bro, if you're feeling up to it I need you for patrols tomorrow night."

"'K," Broadway just groaned.

Brooklyn could only raise an eye ridge as he said, "How about you, me, and Lex patrol together, it'll be like old times."

"Sure," he groaned again.

Brooklyn rested his head in one hand as he looked at his rookery brother in frustration. Everyone in one form or another had tried to cheer up Broadway, especially Angela, but he just seemed to refuse any and all attempts and continued to wallow in self pity.

Brooklyn then thought of one thing that would get a reaction from his aqua colored brother, yet his timing could not have been worse.

"Hey, Broadway, you wanna compare dick lengths like when we were adolescents?"

This earned him a gasp from Angela, sitting next to Broadway, and a hard look from Hudson, who had joined watching the TV with them from his laz-E-boy chair.

Moments before saying it, several other figures had entered the room; his own family, Goliath, and the Xanadu Clan ambassador, Li Shen. They all looked at him with different expressions of surprise and disapproval; Sata gave her lifemate a stare of amusement and steeled indignity, while his kids began to snicker behind their beaks; Goliath gave his second a hard stare while Li Shen just remained neutrally calm, yet a small twinkle of amusement radiated from his golden eyes.

Among all those who reacted to what he just said, the one who he wanted a reaction from just moaned,

"Sure, whatever."

With all of the stares he just now received, Brooklyn turned a brighter shade of red as he hid his face behind his hands, slid down in his seat and embarrassingly moaned, "Me and my big beak."

Graeme and Ariana just burst out laughing, hastening Sata to remove them from the room as they protested against it.

Peeking through his fingers, he was not too surprised to see Goliath continue to glare at him. Brooklyn felt even more nervous and embarrassed when Goliath then asked to speak with him alone.

Off in a private corner of the clan's wing, the leader said to his second,

"I know you meant well with your jest just now, Brooklyn, but I advice being more cautious with what words you use while we have guests in our home."

"Right, Goliath," Brooklyn agreed with a reserved sigh.

"However, it isn't what I need to speak to you about."

Brooklyn gave Goliath his full attention as the lavender giant said,

"Xanatos has asked for the clan's assistance in watching the old Maddox Technologies building. I don't completely understand his reason for it, other than he suspects something is there that poses a threat to his business. Although, it's part of our nightly patrols anyway, I'm not fully comfortable with this request."

"I understand, Goliath," Brooklyn agreed, "Since we're living under the same roof as Xanatos, our duties and his business interests are bound to overlap sometimes."

Goliath gave a growling sigh as he nodded.

"So I'm going to need you to assign patrol teams for the next few nights while I attend to other duties. Since Elisa is now with child she's being more difficult than ever, refusing to leave her apartment and live in the castle until her new chambers are renovated and the last of her furniture is replaced with Matt's and Sara's when they move in. Li Shen wants me to open the lines of negotiation again with other clans to exchange guardian beasts with them, and Xanatos wants me to review qualifications of possible new physicians for our clan."

Brooklyn gave a nod, understanding Goliath's difficult position.

"What do you think should be done about Broadway?" he asked.

They both looked at the still moping Broadway, who barely registered he was aware of anything around him. The clan leaders could only frown at their clan mate, their worry growing for him the more he refused to speak of what burdened him.

"I would prefer to have him return to duty as soon as possible, however Yin has suggested that he take a few nights for 'physical therapy,' whatever that is, and is studying 'psychology,' medicine for the mind I believe, to help with his emotional state. Indeed, I can't have his continued brooding inhibit him from his duties any longer than they should."

Brooklyn nodded as he said, "Angela's been trying to help him, but not with much luck. I'll talk to him; try to get him to understand the clan needs him."

He began to walk away when Goliath said, "And, Brooklyn. . ."

He turned to face his leader again.

"Between the two of us, there's no competition," Goliath said smugly.

Brooklyn just rolled his eyes and scoffed as he shook his head.


	4. Chapter 4

****Mausoleum, the next night.

At first they had been reluctant to go with Vince, but it was pleasant enough to see one of their fellow Halflings still free, despite having to suddenly disband after Lord Madoc's sudden defeat and unexplained deathly fall. The strange girl with him greatly intrigued Rael, but Rita instantly did not like her and wanted nothing to do with her or this messed up town.

Yet something had drawn them back to New York by an instinct she could not completely resist. So, out of simple curiosity of who wanted to meet them and whom Vince now worked for, Rita and Rael went with the former Dracon bouncer and his strange friend.

Now, the two Halflings stood before a man of clear noble descent dressed in aristocratic garments from Eastern Europe, but of the fashion of the mid 20th century. Although his hair was closely cropped and well combed, his short mustache cleanly cut, his skin was clearly far too pale, as though a slowly decaying corpse that had been out of the Sun for far too long, and his pale blue eyes also seemed lifeless, yet 'soulful' somehow and were still piercingly cold.

His 'family' around him gave off the same feeling, yet while Rael had stared at the aristocratic man and his wife with frozen awe, Rita made it obvious she was less than impressed.

"Seriously?" she scoffed indignantly, "You would have me believe _you're_ the 'original' Count Dracula?"

Rita gave a short laugh as Vlad stared at her dangerously, yet kept a cold neutral demeanor. He held up a hand as his wife, Elizabeth, tensed up for an attack as her upper lip curled up to reveal fangs.

"Believe whatever you wish, child," Vlad said with a cold dignity, "The mortals trivial entertainment is nothing more than demeaning insults to my name that mortals once feared to even mention. Something of which I will remind the kine of in due time."

A slight chill went down Rael's spine while Rita just huffed with a shake of her head and smirked. This greatly intrigued Imre, who eyed Rita with great interest. Rael only noticed this for a moment, but knew he did not like Imre one bit.

Rita then spoke up in irritation, "Look, pal, whatever you want from us, just get it over with. I've had it up to here" _She holds her hand over the top of her head_ "with this freaked up town and those goddamn gargoyles. Rael and I are gonna live it up big somewhere like Vegas or Hollywood."

Vlad continued to glare at her as he said with an ever cold demeanor, "It will do you well to mind your language, child, for it will only bring you more unnecessary trouble. However, on the matter of the gargoyles, we can agree upon."

"Whatever," Rita huffed, "What the hell do you want with us?"

"Rita," Rael warned, as she sighed.

Vlad's lips curved only slightly at the corners of his mouth as he momentarily glimpsed at Rael, pleased that the young man was willing to show him a little more respect.

"What I want, child, is simple," Vlad said coldly, "Though we are not quite the same, we all have one thing in common."

"I doubt we have _anything_ in common," the female Halfling commented, "Aside from having really cool fangs."

Rita gave an unfriendly smile to reveal enough of her own sharpened canines, making Imre smirk at this.

"Though your transformation was more by the hand of the mortal sorcery know as 'science'," Vlad said as he continued to coldly ignore Rita's rude remarks, "I have also been touched by the magic of Madoc Morfryn, the Lord of the Banished Ones."

This caught the young Halflings' surprised attention, leaving the couple momentarily speechless.

However, it did not keep Rita silent for long, as she then smirked widely as she said,

"So that means you're leftover rejects to serve the old Unseelie Court, and we're the new and improved 2.0 versions. Oh, yeah."

Rita clenched her fist to a self triumph punch as she said the last two words, then suddenly gave a heavy gasp as she felt what was like a hard punch from a champion heavyweight at the forefront of her mind. It lasted only a microsecond, but she suddenly became overwhelmed with a wave of darkness that pierced her very soul, an ancient primal fear of being stalked by an unseen predator from the darkness set to unexpectedly pounce from the unknown and consume her very being at any moment with power to be feared and demanding respect.

As Vlad bombarded Rita with his 'lightest' psychic assault, he sensed something within their minds which greatly intrigued him, something he might be able to use to his advantage at a later time.

The next moment, Rita looked at Vlad with a look of absolute shock and horror, an expression of true fear in her wide eyes.

"That is quite enough of your incipit remarks, _child_ ," Vlad snared coldly, "Though my power originally came from Lord Madoc, same as you, I serve no one. I was once the Prince of Walachia and brought order and prosperity to my realm, and I am the rightful King of the Black Court of Vampires."

Both Halflings remained silent, which greatly please Vlad.

"Now that I have you properly disciplined," Vlad said with his ever present cold tone, "You will tell me of what you know of the fate of the Banished Lord. Has he truly been slain or does he merely hide in waiting to draw me out and those like me to him?"

Rita and Rael momentarily looked at each other, waiting for one or the other to answer the infamous vampire.

"We don't know what happened to Lord Madoc," Rael finally said with a submissive tone, "But we're sure he's dead. Rita, me, and a bunch of our friends followed Lord Madoc and our supposed leader, George Harrison, to the castle at the top of the Eyrie Building where we fought the gargoyles. I don't know what happened, but I'm sure we were winning, even if the gargoyles were still tough to beat. But all of a sudden it was as though we couldn't feel him in our heads anymore. In a weird and scary way it was like suddenly losing the most important part of yourself, like losing your very purpose in life, and at the same time a relief at finally being free to be yourself again. The rest of the Unseelie Court must've felt it too, because all of a sudden they disappeared or were captured by other Fey we never saw before. Some of us were lucky to escape but I'm sure a lot of our friends were captured and put on ice by Xanatos and those damn gargoyles. I now wonder what was really the point of fighting them the whole time when we only lose, even as a Quarryman, or a Halfling."

Vlad seemed to deeply ponder this for several moments; a tangible silence fell over everyone in the Mausoleum as dark and cold as Vlad himself.

"Interesting," he finally said in a low whisper that could be heard clearly by the others around him, "So, the rumors of the Dark Lord's demise weren't completely exaggerated or untrue."

"Do does that mean we can finally leave here and go out and have some real fun?" Imre asked eagerly.

Vlad gave the younger vampire a cold glare, making him stop smirking but he returned a look of resentment.

"You still have much to learn about patience, Imre," Vlad said with a cold patience, "For this information only eases one of our worries to replace it with another. Whatever force was powerful enough to be the downfall of Lord Madoc may still be out there, and may be powerful enough to doom us as well."

Imre did not show it to his sire, only showing his angst teenage defiance, but inside he did become a bit concerned.

"Mr. Maddox did often talk about some prophecy about the union of gargoyles and people," Rita spoke up, this time more respectfully and a clear tone of apprehension in her voice, "Which is just wrong on so many levels, if you ask me."

Vlad looked at Rita a bit curiously as she averted her gaze.

"So," he began, "Whatever was the cause of his demise unsurprisingly involves the gargoyles. That's a shame for such formidable warriors. How unfortunate that like this primitive kine country's weak judicial system, they must follow some misguided code of protecting the weak. A shame indeed."

"What does this means for us now, my husband?" Elizabeth quietly asked after a brief silence.

"It simply means," Vlad answered, "that we will need to be more cautious of the gargoyles for the time being, and begin our recruitment as soon as possible.

"You mentioned there were more of you," Vlad continued as he looked at the Halflings, "Do you know where they are?"

"Like I said, sir," Rael said, "Most of our friends were probably put on ice by Xanatos."

Vlad feigned a look of confusion; Imre then stated with obvious boredom, "It means they were captured and imprisoned, duh."

Vlad glared coldly at his 'son' but for now let his attitude slide.

"So their most likely prison is the Eyrie Building," he commented with disappointment.

"There were others still at Maddox Technologies," Rael spoke up, unsure why, "They were still going through the procedure when Mr. Maddox decided to start the fighting, so they weren't ready yet and might still be there."

This greatly intrigued Vlad as he thought carefully.

"I can't yet risk a raid on the Eyrie Building to free your comrades," He sternly stated, "But for now I shall have Walters scout out this 'Maddox Technologies' you speak of."

He then got a dark glimmer in his cold eyes as he gazed at the two Halflings.

"In the meantime," he said with an evil smile, "you two show great promise, though you are clearly rough around the edges and require some. . .polishing."

A freezing chill ran down Rita's and Rael's spines as they stared in frightful awe at Vlad. But before he did anything, a small blue light swooped down seemingly from nowhere and flittered angrily about Vlad's face. He held up his hands to momentarily shield his face from the attacking glowing wisp, but gathered enough of his wits to snarl,

"Be gone, pest!"

He then backhanded the little fairy hard enough to make her give a tiny high pitched shriek of pain as she flew uncontrollably through a stone wall and leave behind a hole several inches wide.

"Blue!" Rita cried as her tiny fairy friend disappeared from sight.

"What did you do to her!?" she then demanded.

"Something merciful," was all Vlad said with a cold tone.

All the Halflings could do was freeze in place with fear as they saw Vlad's eyes glow a blood red and his fangs seemed to elongate and become sharper as he hissed like a snake, making the air and ambiance of the tomb like structure grow more sinister and colder.

Out in the cold night, a tiny humanoid figure lay nearly motionless upon the cold moist earth near a rather large tombstone, her eldritch blue aura faintly twinkled weakly like the last dying ember of a long gone out burning fire.

Yet she was not alone, for another faint light steadily settled over the small wisp and a pair of hands the color of silken moonlight then lifted the tiny wounded fairy with the gentleness of a summer breeze.

"Easy, little sister," gently said a voice like musical wind with the flow of a graceful waterfall, "Thy gleaming light shalst shine again once healed upon thy home of Avalon."

The blue wisp communicated confusion with a weak twinkle like a Fey Morse code to her mysterious rescuer.

"Though many such as thee hast been misguided by the evil machinations of the brother of our benevolent High Lord, even those of the Third Race can find redemption and bring balance wherest it is needed. Thine glow can be a beacon in the darkness once more."

The moon white figure glowed with her silver iridescence to momentarily illuminate the tombstone of the deceased; Halcyon Reynard.

The next moment she was gone with her small rescued charge.


	5. Chapter 5

****Castle Wyvern, two nights later

Brooklyn looked at the clan members before him, taking note of each member who now stood before him to await patrol assignments. The one that concerned him the most was Broadway, who was now returning to patrols, but Brooklyn could still see a deep depression coloring his face. Even with Yin approving of Broadway returning to patrols for a returning feeling of normalcy and needed exercise for his wings, Brooklyn wondered if his brother's wings will still be able to hold him aloft, because Broadway was looking a little more pudgy than usual from eating more the last few nights.

"Alright, listen up," the rusty gargoyle second spoke up, "As you all, know, while Goliath has to take care of other important matters for now, much of which involves our guest Li Shen, I'm going to be assigning patrols again."

Everyone was split into teams of two and then given areas of the city to patrol for the night, yet while everyone was ready to leave, Broadway just stood in place with a pathetic look in his face.

"Brooklyn?" he moaned, "Would it be alright if I just stayed here and helped Goliath guard the castle?"

Brooklyn could only give his aqua rookery brother a stern look, while everyone else looked at him with various degrees of pity and annoyance.

"No, Broadway," Brooklyn said as he placed a hand on his burly brother's shoulder, "I need everyone on patrol tonight. With this gang war getting worse every day we need to do what we can to help stop it. And with Thailog and his cronies still out there, no doubt he might try to take advantage of the situation and make it worse."

"What if _I_ make things worse?" Broadway groaned, "What if I mess up again?"

Brooklyn could only sigh as he shook his head, and then tried to calmly say, "You're a warrior, Broadway, and I know you can do this. I and the clan need you on this."

Broadway could only momentarily look down as he sighed and said he would try, and then left with his patrol partner, Desdemona, to begin their assigned patrol area of the city.

The others then did the same, Sata with Hudson, and Angela with Othello, while Lexington momentarily hung back to say to Brooklyn,

"You aren't the only one who's worried about him, I am too. Who or whatever it was that beat him up so badly is still out there, and we need to find it and make it pay."

Brooklyn could only look at his shorter brother wide eyed for a moment, but it was returned with Lex's own look of determination.

Brooklyn patiently placed a hand on Lex's shoulder as he said,

"We will, Lex, but until we do we have to keep our heads in the game and focus on tonight's patrols and finding a way of stopping this gang war before it gets out of hand."

"Well, when we do," Lex almost snarled, "I want first crack at it, show it that when it messes with my clan they mess with me. I may be small, but I'm still a gargoyle, and I protect those I care about."

Brooklyn gave a thumbs up as Lex then left with his patrol partner, green skinned Graeme, and Brooklyn soon left with Ariana.

Several minutes later, as father and daughter soared over the city to an important destination on their patrol route, Ariana asked her father with worry,

"Dad, why is Uncle Broadway acting so glum? I thought he'd be better by now, but he won't even talk to me or Graeme."

"Me too, sweetheart, but all I know is it involved him using a gun, and you know how much he hates guns."

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, it's because he accidently shot Elisa with her own gun a few years ago when he was playing with it, and shouldn't have been. Back when it was just the six of us, we were still pretty naïve about this new time and place. Only if I remember right, instead of moping around in guilt, he focused instead on catching Dracon's gun smugglers, all in anger with himself."

"How did he get over it?"

"He confessed to Goliath just as he was about to kill Dracon, because Goliath thought that street slime had shot Elisa."

"But that was totally different from what happened a few days ago," Ariana pointed out.

"True, kiddo," Brooklyn agreed, "But sometimes doing something, like making the same mistake twice when vowing not to, can greatly affect someone, and that's never easy."

"Yeah, and I don't like the way it's making Uncle Lex act, either. He's usually really smart about this stuff, but he's starting to act a little like Aunt Demona, talking about revenge and stuff."

"I know, and it makes me worry about him all the more. I think it's because of everything that's happened to him in the last few years, he's afraid he'll die alone."

"But he won't, we know that he's gonna. . ."

"But _he_ doesn't, and it's best for it to stay that way for now."

Ariana gave a reserved sigh as she nodded, then her expression changed to displeasure as she eyed the next stop on their patrol route.

"Do we really have to keep checking this place, Dad?" she complained, "I thought we were done with it, and besides it gives me the creeps."

Brooklyn eyed the old Maddox Technologies building, understanding his daughter's anxiety well.

"Me too, kiddo, but until we can find whatever it is that has Xanatos worried here, we keep looking for it until we find it."

The pre-adolescent red gargoyle would have preferred to just get the patrol over with had something suspicious not then just caught her eye.

"Uh, Dad," she nervously spoke up, "I think I found it."

Brooklyn looked down to see what caught Ariana's attention, and agreed it was extremely suspicious.


	6. Chapter 6

I had taken two nights of planning, but thus far things had gone well.

Vlad first had his loyal servant, Walters, scout out the building and find out all he could about the place and any form of weaknesses in the security system they could use to their advantage. However, Vlad soon decided something more discreet needed to be done if any mortal attention was to be avoided.

For several weeks now, Xanatos Enterprises had been moving out several 'abandoned projects' from Maddox Technologies to the main Eyrie Building, while rumor had it they were also competing with something call Nightstone Unlimited for those same projects. But that was of no concern to Vlad, save for acquiring one certain 'abandoned project.'

Standing just outside of the delivery warehouse door in the back of the building, Vlad patiently watched as delivery workers and security guards seemingly went about their work without even noticing Vlad or any of his companions. Yet if one were to look deeper into these people's eyes, they would see they had empty expressions upon their faces and their eyes were glassy, as though they were in a trance or under a mind control spell.

For the moment, he and his family had all the workers and security guards enthralled to them until the last of the containment chambers of the would be Halflings were loaded onto the delivery trucks to be taken someplace secret to be properly converted. Over twenty people of differing ages from a majority of late teens and early twenties to three in their mid forties, all were still in a deep comatose state within life size plexiglass containment chambers in suspended animation, and all showed signs of mid transformation from the now abolished experiment to create more followers for Madoc Morfryn and the Unseelie Court.

Afterwards, if Imre and Mikaela behaved themselves, Vlad will allow them a taste of the kine's blood they so crave, but just enough to leave them all comatose for a while longer.

He could not yet risk having his progeny leaving behind blood drained lifeless husks out of impulsiveness. If not for that retched book by Stoker, his kind would still be thriving on the ever bountiful kine.

So until they learned self control, they will need to learn the importance of survival.

Vince and the ones called Rita and Rael productively used their powers to help load these last four or five of the containers that sustained the suspended lives of the so-called volunteers, though continually complained about it. Vlad will have to deal with it at a later time to teach them proper obedience.

As he focused on making sure everything went smoothly, Elizabeth suddenly shouted out,

"Vladimir, my love, look above yonder!"

Vlad shot his eyes up to see two red gargoyles soaring just above them, something to be expected, but he would have rather avoided, yet it was not truly the gargoyles' unexpected arrival that surprised him.

"Empty night," he snarled, "I expected this day would come."

Glaring at his recent recruits, Vlad yelled a command to them,

"We have intruders! Deal well with them!"

Rita and Rael dropped whatever they were doing and shot cold blue beams of light from their palms to create light paths and soar up to the Brooklyn and Ariana, Rita clearly eager for action and Rael more reserved.

When the Halflings came to eye level with the gargoyle father and daughter, Brooklyn could only spit out irritated,

"Not you guys again."

"Funny, I was about to say the same thing," Rita shot back, then suddenly shot a deadly ball of blue light at Brooklyn, hitting his metal chest plate dead center to push him back several feet in the air from Rita and momentarily disorient him.

Brooklyn was able to shake it off after only a moment or two as he realigned his wings to keep himself aloft and touched his chest plate, ever thankful for its futuristic technology for being resistant to a moderate level of Fey magic as well as advanced high energy weapons.

Even though much of his armor, his chest plate, arm bands, and shoulder guard were capable of withstanding even a deadly laser bolt and various forms of magic to a point, Brooklyn was still well aware his armor still had its limits.

He then tried to clear the spots that danced in his head from his peripheral vision, then they glowed bright white as he yelled at Rita,

"Geez, woman, what the hell's your problem?!"

"You damn gargoyles ruined my life!" Rita angrily shouted, "You always ruin everything, and I'm gonna make you all pay!"

The glow of Brooklyn's eyes dimmed a bit as he said with a shake of his head, "I've heard that said a million times for years and it's never a good excuse for doing something out of baseless hate."

Rita just gave an angered cry as she prepared another magical attack just as Ariana soared out of nowhere with eyes glowing crimson as she shouted,

"Leave my Dad alone!"

She was about to hit Rita with her Bo, but got intercepted by Rael as he yelled,

"And you leave my girlfriend alone!"

He shot at her with a milder version of the blue force ball, making Ariana tumble back and fall a short way from her height, but she was able to spread her wings and catch a strong enough updraft to glide back up to a sufficient height and set to attacking Rael.

Brooklyn would have gone to his daughter's aide had Rita not shot another blue energy sphere at him to nearly graze his beak. Instead he was forced to glide in another direction, if just to draw away the insane Halfling from his daughter while she handled to the other one.

While he knew Ariana was a very capable warrior, Brooklyn could see they were still out matched if not out numbered. It often took the entire clan to take down just one Halfling, and aside from his high tech armor, Brooklyn did not have any iron on him.

Activating his commlink earpiece, he called for any nearby reinforcements.

Behind Ariana, Rael pursued as he skated upon his mystical light path construct, shooting cold blue beams from his palms or throwing light spheres like miniature comets at her as she zigged and zagged upon the air drafts to dodge his continuous mystic barrage.

Ariana raised one eye ridge in puzzlement, for something told her he was holding back.

"What's the matter, elf boy?" she cried out mockingly, "A lousy shot?"

"I don't want to hurt, kid," Rael cried back, "You and your kind should just leave us alone and stay out of our business!"

With stronger flaps of her wings, Ariana soared faster and harder upon the breeze as the natural acrobat she was hatched to be as she angled her wings to lift her high for a loop-da-loop and appear behind Rael.

Using her trained air combat skills she twirled her Bo so fast it was like a solid disk as she yelled to Rael,

"You're stealing something that doesn't belong to you, and that makes it our business!"

She then gave a hard swing of her staff and hit Rael in the back and knocked him off from his light made platform, making him give an exclaimed yelp as he stumbled over the edge.

Ariana smiled smugly to herself as she glided passed and watched Rael fall several meters, but it became a frown as she watched Rael break his fall with another light path construct.

This was going to be harder than she thought.

Hearing a loud whistle, she eyed her father not too far away as he soared hard with the female Halfling behind him. She gave a nod as she followed Brooklyn's lead.

They glided towards each other with a Halfling behind them, father and daughter on a collision course.

At the very last second they both simultaneously angled their wings and soared upwards in a vertical ascension, their beaks missing by inches. This was followed by Rita and Rael hitting each other with a hard bodily thump that may have broken a few bones, to then fall from their magically created light paths unconscious.

Brooklyn and Ariana high foured each other, Brooklyn smiling with pride how that old trick with the Steel Clan worked even now, and with even Halflings.

Below, Vlad watched the fight with a mild interest but became displeased as he watched his newest followers be defeated. Using his own magic to telekenically slow their fall and place them out of the way, his face then twisted into an angered snare as the armored red gargoyle landed in front of him with angry glowing eyes and flared wings.

"Whatever you're doing here, pal, it stops now," Brooklyn growled.

Vlad gave a snake like hiss at Brooklyn, then arrogantly said, "It's tiresome having to deal with naïve meddlers, especially the same ones in as many centuries. Walters!"

Vlad's loyal man servant seemed to appear out of thin air, giving a bloodcurdling war cry as he brandished what appeared to be an old 18th century rapier, thought the blade gleamed and glimmered as though newly forged.

Brooklyn held up his arms to shield himself against Walters' sword as it hit the gargoyle's arm guards, yet the blows were strong enough to drive him back a few steps.

Though Brooklyn knew Walters had to be a normal human in service to these vampires, he fought with greater than average strength and a furious rage Brooklyn had not seen since the Vikings' invasions in the 10th century.

Ariana was about to go to her father's aid when she was nearly hit by another blue energy sphere, making her turn to her left to face off against Vince. Yet before the bouncer was able to attack again, he gave an exclaimed yelp as something hard hit his left temple and left a deep scrape.

They both looked up to see Graeme preparing another projectile in his old fashion slingshot, with Lexington not far behind him.

"Need a hand, sis?" Graeme asked as he shot Vince again, hitting another part of his bald head, making the former Dracon bouncer yell in surprise and pain.

"You bet, Bro!" Ariana said as she and her twin brother began attacking Vince simultaneously, Ariana with spinning attacks with her Bo staff, and Graeme with what was now obviously iron pellets from one of his vest pockets.

It was enough to put the mobster Halfling off balance from using his powers, making him realize he had no choice but to retreat for now.

As Vince finally retreated, the twins gave their signature high tail to each other as a proud Lex landed nearby. But their victory was short lived as two more figures began attacking them, Imre went for the twins and Mikaela went straight for Lex.

They both seemed to be enveloped in foggy living shadows as they flew at the gargoyles, eyes glowing red but with faint white pupils, fangs elongated, and their nails sharpened to three inch long claws while their pale attractive and youthful features became more sunken and decayed as though to more resemble a corpse in death.

"Hello again, snack," Mikaela hissed with wild amusement as she grabbed a struggling Lex by his shoulders.

"Not you again," he growled as he tried to free himself from her vice like grasp.

"Yes, me again, I only got a little sample of what you taste like last time," she said with deranged hunger as a salivated tongue licked at her cracked and dry lips, "And it had a very interesting effect on me. I wonder what'll happen if I eat all of my dinner."

"Go ahead and try it, vampire bitch," Lex practically smirked with large white glowing eyes.

If just for the insult, Mikaela snarled as she opened her mouth wide and prepared to sink long fangs into Lex's jugular. But instead, Lex used her angered attack against her as he head butted her hard, and used his smaller size and flexibility to bring his legs up and kick at Mikaela's mid section hard at the same time he used his gargoyle strength to hit her arms out and release her grip on him to free himself.

Yet a second later he noticed she was still able to leave three deep gashes on his upper left arm. He gripped them as he looked at the younger female vampire with shocked horror, thin bits of blood leaked from between his fingers.

"Relax," she said snobbishly, "If I wanted to turn you, I would have already. You're a meal, not a convert."

This did not make Lex feel entirely better as he looked at her in anger for the attack. She just gave him a smug smile as she began licking blissfully at the blood on her long claws, savoring it like a fine wine.

"Gaaggh!" she suddenly cringed in disgusted surprise as her tongue suddenly burned with pain.

She looked at the olive green gargoyle with puzzled shock, because now he was smiling in satisfaction.

Sniffing at her long claws, her sunken corpse like face twisted into a disgusted hatred to make her face more twisted and ugly.

"Garlic, bleegh!" She sneared.

"That's right, you blood sucking bitch," Lex said proudly, "I've been eating plenty of garlic since the last time you bit me. Only down sides are the bad breath and so much carbo loading almost made me a smaller version of Broadway."

Mikaela just hissed dangerously at Lex, and retreated in the opposite direction instead of attacking him again. Lex wanted to chase after her but decided to instead try to find Brooklyn and help him.

Not too far away, Imre fought to get at the gargoyle twins who fought like the life long team they are. Every move one made was balanced out or countered by the other enough to keep the young male vampire off balance and confused. As Imre tried to attack one, the other would strategically dodge the other way while the other took the advantage to strike and keep the young vampire in a continued state of confusion as well as using Imre's impulsions against him. For every lashed out claw swipe Imre tried to deliver, Graeme and/or Ariana dodged or countered in defense while the brother and/or sister counterbalanced with their own claw swipe, a punch, a kick, and even a whip crack from their long tales, all to further frustrate the adolescent vampire and have him wear himself out.

However, what neither noticed was that Imre had come closer than expected, his elongated claws had deeply scratched at the armbands on the twin gargoyles upper arms, creating some minor yet critical damage. Graeme and Ariana had continued their valiant fighting with sheer determination and adrenaline powered stamina.

"Hold still, you little morsels," he snarled in frustration, "My sister's the only one lucky enough to have sampled you juicy steaks. I want a taste."

Graeme and Ariana just gave Imre a hard double whammy kick in the stomach, momentarily taking the wind from his lungs as he fell back, but he recovered fast.

He hissed dangerously as he prepared for another attack, but his 'sister' grabbed him tightly by his arm as she said,

"No, brother. That little green twit has poisoned his blood with garlic, and the rest of them may've done the same. We can't risk it."

Imre's face twisted in disgust as he snarled, "I always hated Italian food, even before becoming Undead."

The vampire siblings retreated into their shadowy cloaks, landing in front of their sire to tell of Lexington's defense. The infamous vampire lord gave an irritated scowl, yet part of him was pleased to see his progeny finally using some common sense.

The twins meanwhile, found themselves suddenly being attacked again by a recovered Vince whose hands each gripped a cold blue green orb of magical energy and his face was twisted in a crazed snarl.

Looking around Vlad assessed the situation, which was looking to becoming increasingly at a disadvantage.

Walters continued to keep the armored red gargoyle at bay while a smaller green one began his own attack on the rapier wielding servant by trying to attack from above and grabbing the maddened man servant, who just easily ripped Lex from his shoulders and threw him away hard.

Vince was barely holding his own against two pre-adolescent gargoyles, and Rita and Rael were only now beginning to stir from their earlier foolish collision.

The security guards and warehouse workers paid no attention to the battles that progressed around them, having still been enthralled in deep trances. There were only two more life sustaining tanks to be loaded onto the delivery truck, yet Vlad was certain that by then it would be too late, if these gargoyle nuisances were not taken care of now.

Sensing her husband's concerns, Elizabeth stepped forward to assure him as she said,

"Fear not, My Dark Love, I shall end this irritating scuffle immediately."

Her own lovely Eastern European features twisted and became more distorted than Imre's and Mikaela's had been; her face paler, more sunken and rotten, her eyes a deeper shade of red, and two sets of fangs; sharp canines and shorter lateral incisors, and five inch long claws.

She flew at Graeme and Ariana, leaving behind her own dark streak of tangible shadows and fog as her elegant aristocratic dress billowed madly behind her, and grabbed the twins tightly by their throats as she easily held them in the air from a cringing Vince.

"Leave," she hissed with husky voice, and Vince needed no other words from his master's wife.

Lex had come to Brooklyn's aid against Walters, having landed on top of the human's head and trying to impede his vision by wrapping his web wings around the swordsman's face.

But even blinded, Walters proved too strong for the smaller gargoyle in his berserker rage as he grabbed Lex's arm and threw him hard to the ground.

For a moment, Lex could only think though his muddled mind that his arm was going to have bruises from Walters's vice tight grip, while his other arm had deep scratches, and he was going to feel that concrete hit tomorrow night despite any healing from stone sleep.

When Lex's vision cleared a moment later, he saw Walters preparing to slash his head off with the rapier; but instead the slender sword hit one of Brooklyn's arm guards as he intercepted Walters's sword.

Walters was about to take another slash at Brooklyn when a hoarse female voice shouted,

"Gargoyles!"

Without any instructions from Elizabeth, Walters made a hasty retreat while Brooklyn and Lexington eyed with fearful shock the elder vampiress holding the twins by their throats.

"Listen well, night warriors," she hissed, "If you wish the lives of these pups spared, you will leave now and cease this childish meddling, or have their lives forsaken."

She squeezed their throats tighter, cutting off their breathing even further as her claws cut deep into their necks, Graeme and Ariana clearly loosing strength to continue struggling.

"NO!" Brooklyn shouted.

"Let them go, you monster!" Lex yelled.

Elizabeth just gave a hoarse laugh as she said,

"Their time shortens, small night warrior, but I am not the one who shortens it. I sense something inflicts their young lives even now, and it threatens yet again which is a pity. We are not unalike, my kind as well lingers on the brink of extinction and merely wishes survival same as you."

"We're nothing alike!" Lex snarled.

Elizabeth gave a snake like hiss, then coldly stated,

"Then your choice is clear."

She threw the twins at the two gargoyles as she made a swift escape, becoming only a billow of mist that Lex tried to chase after as she joined the rest of the vampires in the back of the truck and its captured cargo.

Lex made a jump for the back of the truck, but was only able to land and claw onto the closed back door as the truck began speeding away from the Maddox Technologies building. Lex pounded at the closed door as he roared in frustration, leaving a deep dent the size of his fist.

"Lex! Help me!" he heard Brooklyn shout in frightful desperation, which he would have ignored had he not seen the terrified look on his older rusty colored brother's eyes.

Brooklyn had caught his children before they landed hard on the concrete ground, both of them coughed hard for breath as their throats' circulation returned steadily with each choked cough. Brooklyn held them close as he kneeled on the ground, waiting seemingly forever for Lex to return from his pursuit of the vampires and their stolen goods.

"Dad, I don't feel so good," Ariana moaned as she gave another small cough.

"Me neither," Graeme groaned in pain.

Brooklyn eyed the cause of their infliction, panic nearly over came him as he gave heartfelt roar that echoed throughout the canyons of the surrounding buildings, a cry that rivaled a grief stricken roar from Goliath.

"They're getting away!" snarled Lex, his eyes glowing angrily as he landed next to Brooklyn, "What kind of second in command are you to let those monsters get away!?"

Brooklyn just ignored his smaller brother's rant as he stated,

"Graeme and Ariana are in trouble and _you're_ the only one who can save them!"

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Lex yelled, "That's what we got a new healer for!"

Brooklyn's own eyes glowed angrily at his brother as he growled,

"No, Lex! It _has_ to be you. Those arm bands they wear aren't fashions statements, they're all that keep them alive!"

Lex's anger evaporated and his eyes lost their white glow as he took better note of the twins. Their colors had a dangerously pale tint to them and they both looked like they could barely move. He also saw that their arm bands were somehow damaged, yet it was by a great fortune they were not beyond repair.

Lex looked back at his brother, a mixed expression of anxiety and guilt on his youthful features while Brooklyn's own eyes glassed over with tears that were practically begging Lex.

Lex could only frown and give a small nod.


	7. Chapter 7

****Castle Wyvern

Brooklyn's emotional cry was loud enough to be heard by another nearby patrol team, Angela and Othello, and were able to quickly take the twins back home with Brooklyn and Lex leading the way.

They had been taken to the infirmary where Kwan Yin monitored their condition, while Lex studied their arm bands and the technology they comprised of.

While he was able to repair their arm bands enough to stabilize the twins' condition to slow any deteriorating health, Brooklyn stood outside of the infirmary waiting on any news about his children.

As he brooded with worry outside the infirmary, he felt a large hand place upon his shoulder in strong brotherly support.

Brooklyn looked to his right to find Goliath with a brooding look upon his craggy features equal to Brooklyn's own.

Brooklyn could only sigh heavily as he asked,

"Do we really have what it takes to raise hatchlings again? What kind of world will they grow up in, if they can't even get a chance to grow up?"

"I understand how you must be feeling, old friend," Goliath gently rumbled in worry, "Ever since Elisa told me about our new child, I've begun worrying for its future. However, I've come to remember that there's always danger when trying to rear hatchlings."

"That's true in a way," Brooklyn agreed contritely, "But what are you supposed to do when your own kids' lives are threatened?"

Goliath gave a slow rumbling sigh as he said,

"What happens to one of us greatly affects us all as a clan. You and Sata may have bred and raised them, but they are part of this clan and we are all worried for them. And more importantly, they have proven themselves to be very resourceful at such a young age, and they already make fine warriors and will be greater warriors still someday."

"Maybe," Brooklyn sighed, "But only if I hadn't made a careless decision of putting them on patrol tonight."

"There had been no way for any of you to know you would encounter Vlad and his scourge tonight," Goliath reasonably said to him.

Brooklyn turned to face Goliath full on, who could only feign confusion as he said,

"As much experience as I have, I've only been second in command for a little over three years of this clan. As a father I should know better than to willingly endanger my own kids, which is why I'm going to step down as second and you can chose someone else."

Goliath's eye ridge only raised a bit as he simply asked,

"And whom do you suggest to take your place as second, Brooklyn?"

"I don't know," he just sighed, "Definitely Elisa if she were a gargoyle. Most definitely Sata, because she's got a good head her shoulders and has always been more disciplined than I ever was, and she has some experience in her old clan. Maybe Angela because she too was a second on Avalon, and she's your daughter. You know how humans love to pass on social roles their kids. Broadway and Lex have their merits and either do make good choices if they weren't going through personal issues. Maybe Othello would make a good second, and he's always been one of the best warriors, even in the old days, next to you, Goliath."

Goliath gave a reserved sigh as he again strongly but supportively placed a hand on Brooklyn's shoulder and said,

"Brooklyn, my friend, I first chose you as second not only because you had proven yourself with your cunning and strategic thinking, but also because of your strength of character. Remember, I too have made occasional mistakes in my time as a second and as leader, and no doubt may make more. It's one of the burdens of leadership that must be faced. Before you truly consider stepping down as my second, Brooklyn, give yourself time to recover and learn from this experience. Graeme and Ariana will need their father, and more importantly the clan will need its second."

Brooklyn nodded to Goliath as he took his leave of his leader and walked to one of the outside turrets to be alone with his thoughts, part of him hoping the remaining night air will help to clear his head.

A few minutes later, he heard faint footsteps and sensed a familiar calm presence nearby. He turned to momentarily glimpse to his beautiful jade colored lifemate, Sata, but did not give any other awareness of her other than to frown.

He only turned away to continue to broodly stare out at the twinkling lights of the skyline of Manhattan and lighting sky as dawn slowly approached.

He then surprisingly felt Sata's warm presence upon his being as she gently wrapped her arms around him from behind and leaned her cheek against his back.

After only a moment's hesitation, he slowly turned to embrace her.

"I thought you'd never want to speak to me again," he softly said.

Though Sata's face had its ever disciplined warrior expression, it was softened by the glassy sheen in her almond shaped dark eyes.

She slowly stroked Brooklyn's prominent beak up to then gently cup his cheek as she began to say,

"You know I could never want that, My foolish Love. Though I greatly fear for our children's survival, being angry towards my own lifemate will not help them, nor does it befit me as a warrior or as a mother."

"But I . . ." She placed a finger on his beak before he could continue, while continuing herself,

"You are not responsible for what happened to them, the blame lays with their true attackers, and we will have retribution from them in due time."

Brooklyn sighed deeply as he looked into Sata's eyes.

"But what if Lex's is right? What if I am a screw up second for letting those vampires get away and I've allowed things to get worse? What if we lose them this time?"

Sata only gave a sorrowful smile as she patiently said,

"It's saddening how our brother is being misguided by his needless suspicions and want of vengeance, where as you remembered to put the needs of our children before the need of victory at the cost of their lives. That is our way. If Lex-san can remember that soon, then there is hope for all of them."

They gave faint smiles to each other, Sata leaned her head beneath Brooklyn's chin as the Sun steadily rose to freeze them together in a loving embrace reminiscent of classic Greco-Roman statues.

****Unknown location

Vlad took note of his prize as his recruited Halfling followers steadily unloaded the life sustaining chambers that held abandoned volunteers in mid transformation.

The count was a total of twenty, and he was certain it will make a sufficient start for the resurrection of the Black Court, the first scourge of many yet to come.

He was aware of a few survivors of his Court still lingered about elsewhere, and when the time proved right he will being summoning them.

Perhaps beginning with his old acquaintance, Mavra.

Not long after the last life support chamber was unloaded from the delivery truck, there came a rapid beeping noise that began to greatly annoy the former Prince of Wallachia.

"What is that irritating noise?" he demanded coldly.

"It's an alarm, Master," Vince said, "It means that the tanks are running low on reserved power and if they don't recharge soon the people inside them will die."

Vlad's family and the three free Halflings all looked to him about what they should do. For but a few moments he simply stood silently with a frighteningly calm smile on his sickly pale features.

"It's simple," he coldly said, "Allow their life sustaining prisons to run out of power, then release them and we shall begin their destined rebirth."

Minutes later, Vince blasted the first off-line container open with an energy sphere and freed the first would-be Halfling.

Vlad's own features then began a gruesome transformation as his face became paler and more transparent as everything caved in to give his face a more skeletal and corpse like appearance, while two sets of fangs on his canines and incisors began to elongate and sharpen, and his eyes glowed blood red.

****Nightstone Unlimited, three nights later

An important meeting between Thailog and his rag tag group of unlikely gargoyle allies was suddenly interrupted by the appearance of a paunchy human male as he came running into the office completely out of breath.

"What is it, Fergus?" Thailog growled, clearly irritated at the interruption.

"That information you wanted, Mr. Thailog," Fergus gasped as he tried to catch his breath, "About that break in at Maddox Technologies a few nights ago."

He handed Thailog a folder with the information he referred to, the wounded dark skinned gargoyle grabbed it with a hard swipe from his business assistant hard enough to startle the paunchy human.

As he looked through the file, his allies, Darius, Coldsteel, and Typhon, stood silently waiting for an answer.

Thailog's expression steadily went from irritated to puzzled and then to mildly interested, and then finally to intrigued as he gave an unfriendly smile.

"Very interesting," he practically smirked.

He then looked back at Fergus, who waited nervously.

"Fergus," he finally said, "Take this report to Ms. Lilith. You and her are to begin finding any information you can on this gentleman, as well as finding a way of getting in touch with this Vladimir Tepes."

Fergus then left the office to begin his new assignment.

End of episode 9


End file.
